Kite-fishing from a kayak catches a sailfish

(MCT) — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Joe Hector of Extreme Kayak Fishing has run several successful fishing tournaments, all of them on windy days.

That’s why he decided to see if kite-fishing from a kayak would work.

Turns out it does, as his friend Lance Irvine caught and released a sailfish last week kite-fishing with live goggle-eyes 100 feet off Pompano Beach from a Hobie Mirage kayak.

“I think it’s really going to start to catch on,” said Hector, whose next tournament is May Madness on May 18 in Pompano (visit extremekayakfishing.com). “In my tournaments, I really want people to start getting into it.”

Irvine brought out two kayaks in his boat Young Guns along with his son, Hunter, Doug Perez and Hector. Seas were 4-6 feet.

“I figure if you try something in the roughest conditions and it works,” Hector said, “it’ll work all the time.”

Irvine got into a kayak with a kite rod, a spinning outfit and a conventional outfit and the others watched from the boat while he fished.

Ninety minutes later, the boat was circling around Irvine when Perez, who was driving, said, “I think I hear Lance screaming.”

Turned out Irvine, who had never fished from a kayak before, was hooked to an acrobatic sailfish.